Trade Coin Club founder extradited to US on fraud charges
Date: 2025-02-24 Author: Henry Casey Categories: BUSINESS
US authorities have succeeded in extraditing 48-year-old Dover Braga from Switzerland, accusing him of large-scale fraud related to cryptocurrencies. Braga faces 12 counts of wire fraud, for which he faces a minimum of 20 years in prison. He denies all charges, and his next trial is scheduled for April 28, 2025.
According to the prosecutor's office, from 2016 to 2021, Braga lived in Florida and ran a scheme based on attracting investors to bitcoin. Trade Coin Club (TCC) was managed from an office in Belize. Braga convinced investors that their investments were backed by high-tech software that generated profits from changes in the Bitcoin exchange rate. However, the investigation showed that neither the software platform nor the actual investments existed — payments were made at the expense of new participants, which indicates a classic financial pyramid.
The investigation claims that Braga actively promoted the project around the world. In 2017, he visited Thailand, Nigeria, and Macau, speaking at events and advertising TCC. He claimed that the scheme involved 126,000 investors from 231 countries. In addition, he used social media and video content to attract new participants.
During the operation of TCC, more than 82,000 BTC (approximately $290 million at the time of investment) were credited to the company's accounts. Braga provided investors with false reports through an online portal, creating the illusion of a successful platform. However, since late 2017, investors began to face problems with withdrawing funds, and in January 2018, TCC announced the termination of its operations in the United States, canceling client accounts.
In addition to the fraud charges, Braga is also suspected of tax evasion. According to the IRS, in 2017 he received $30.5 million in bitcoins, but declared only $152,298. In 2018, his real income in cryptocurrency amounted to $13.1 million, while in his tax reporting he declared only $73,473.
Earlier in January, the US authorities succeeded in extraditing another person involved in major cryptocurrency fraud - Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs. The South Korean entrepreneur, whose company went bankrupt in 2022, is accused of fraud and manipulation of the digital asset market.
